{"id":10998,"date":"2016-02-18T09:22:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T14:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/?p=10998"},"modified":"2016-02-18T09:22:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T14:22:36","slug":"the-christian-way-to-pray-first-thursday-of-lent-february-18-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-christian-way-to-pray-first-thursday-of-lent-february-18-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christian Way to Pray, First Thursday of Lent, February 18, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nVisitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan<br \/>\nThursday of the First Week of Lent<br \/>\nFebruary 26, 2015<br \/>\nEsther 14:12.14-16.23-25, Ps 138, Mt 7:7-12<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-10998-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2.18.16-Homily-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2.18.16-Homily-1.mp3\">https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2.18.16-Homily-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Today in the Gospel Jesus continues his lessons for us our prayer that he began on Ash Wednesday and built on two days ago. On Ash Wednesday he told us to pray differently from those who pray for show but to go to our inner room, the place symbolized by the locked location in the house where\u00a0where we hold our treasures, and pray to our Father in secret, because prayer is supposed to bring us into a loving, filial Communion with the Father. Two days ago, Jesus built on that lesson when he taught us how to pray, giving us the words of the Our Father, and helping us to seek the hallowing of the Father\u2019s name, the coming of his kingdom, the doing of his will, and the daily natural and supernatural nourishment, the mercy, the strengthening in temptation and the deliverance from evil we need to do so. Today he speaks to us about the filial confidence we should have in prayer and urges us to bring our needs and desires to God. Jesus wants us\u00a0to\u00a0<i>seek\u00a0<\/i>God in our prayer, to\u00a0<em>knock\u00a0<\/em>on his door, to\u00a0<em>ask\u00a0<\/em>for what we need and desire. And he gives us a promise\u00a0that no infomercial our used car salesman would ever be so bold as to make: \u201cAsk and it will be given to you;\u00a0seek and you will find;\u00a0knock and the door will be opened to you.\u00a0For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;\u00a0and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.\u201d That\u2019s an almost incredible guarantee, that our prayers will always be heard.<\/li>\n<li>Notice that he doesn\u2019t tell us \u201cAsk and you\u2019ll get whatever you ask for.\u201d He instructs us to seek but he doesn\u2019t tell us exactly what we\u2019ll find. He tells us to knock but he doesn\u2019t say what will be waiting for us on the other side of the opened door. But he promises us that our prayers will be heard and God will respond. The reason why God will respond is precisely because, as we\u2019ve been pondering throughout Lent, God is a loving Father. Jesus says, \u201cWhich one of you would hand his son a stone\u00a0when he asked for a loaf of bread,\u00a0or a snake when he asked for a fish?\u00a0If you then, who are wicked,\u00a0know how to give good gifts to your children,\u00a0how much more will your heavenly Father give good things\u00a0to those who ask him.\u201d He will always give us what is good for us. In St. Luke\u2019s version of an almost identical scene, Jesus promises that the Father will always respond to our prayers by giving us the Holy Spirit. God responds to our petitions first and foremost by giving\u00a0<em>himself<\/em>, because the greatest gift is the Giver. Jesus says all of this so that we will have no fear at all in praying. But he wants us to ask!<\/li>\n<li>We see this prayer of fearless petition exemplified for us in the first reading. Queen Esther, a Jew living in Babylon, risks her life to try to save the Jewish people from one of King Ahasuerus\u2019 assistants who was seeking to have all the Jews executed by decree of a misled King. But before she would risk her life going into the King\u2019s presence unbidden, she and all the Jews prayed and fasted for three days. Today we have the bold prayer she makes in the presence of God the Father as she lay prostrate with all her attendants from morning to evening: \u201cGod of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. \u00a0Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,\u00a0for I am taking my life in my hand.\u00a0As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers\u00a0that you, O Lord, always free those who are pleasing to you.\u00a0Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,\u00a0O Lord, my God. \u2026\u00a0And now, come to help me, an orphan. \u2026 \u00a0Save us from the hand of our enemies;\u00a0turn our mourning into gladness\u00a0and our sorrows into wholeness.\u201d How could a Father give her a stone in response to that request for bread? We know from the Book of Esther that her prayer was answered, that she and the Jews were saved, and that the one who had plotted against them ended up suffering the fate he had intended to do to them.\u00a0We need to learn from her example how to pray boldly. We learn to pray as if our life and others\u2019 lives depended on it, because it does. This leads us not just to ask once politely and if we don\u2019t get the answer we hoped for to think God didn\u2019t want to give it to us. No. Such prayer continues to ask, even to bug or bother God as Pope Francis likes to remind us, knowing that God always hears our prayers and responds by giving us himself, sometimes with what we\u2019re asking for, sometimes without so that he can give us or others something more important.<\/li>\n<li>These considerations lead us\u00a0to examine, first, the quality of our prayer, something Jesus wants us to examine each Lent. Insofar as we are priests and religious, everyone expects us to be models and master-teachers of prayer and we give God thanks for the instruction we&#8217;ve received and the experience we&#8217;ve had in prayer both in our homes, in our formation, and in the consecrated or priestly life. But there&#8217;s still so much room for our growth in terms of the boldness and filial trust and confidence with which we make our prayers. During this Year of Mercy, we are called to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy like Esther prayed for the salvation of her people. We&#8217;re called to pray the Rosary like our Lady. We&#8217;re called to pray the Prayers of the Faithful of Mass knowing that God will hear each of those petitions.<\/li>\n<li>The second thing we&#8217;re called to look at is what we\u2019re asking for, seeking, and knocking to obtain. Are we persistently praying for what Jesus taught us to pray a couple of days ago and which we will pray later today during Mass? That his name be hallowed, his kingdom come and his will be done? That we be given today our super-substantial bread, the forgiveness that overflows toward others, the strength in temptation and the total separation from evil? Or are we asking for much lesser stuff? Our prayer manifests our desires and where they might need to be aligned to God\u2019s will, but at the same time, as St. Therese used to teach, our prayers sometimes manifests the desires that God has implanted within us to ask for. This Lent during the Jubilee of Mercy we&#8217;re called to ask boldly for the most important things, for God&#8217;s forgiveness especially for those most hardened, our holiness, for salvation, for peace.<\/li>\n<li>Today as we come forward to pray the Mass, we grasp that this is the prayer of the Church from the rising of the sun to its setting. This is what we pray for us as a family of God the Father\u2019s beloved sons and daughters together with his only begotten Son. And in response to this prayer, God the Father not only seeks to respond to the various petitions we make throughout the Mass, but by giving us his Son and sending us the Holy Spirit. That\u2019s why we\u2019re moved to make our own the words of today\u2019s Responsorial Psalm: \u201cI will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,\u00a0for you have heard the words of my mouth. \u2026 When I called, you answered me!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>The readings for today\u2019s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<h4>Reading 1<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/esther\/4:17\">EST 14:12, 14-16, 23-25<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,<br \/>\nhad recourse to the LORD.<br \/>\nShe lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids,<br \/>\nfrom morning until evening, and said:<br \/>\n\u201cGod of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you.<br \/>\nHelp me, who am alone and have no help but you,<br \/>\nfor I am taking my life in my hand.<br \/>\nAs a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers<br \/>\nthat you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.<br \/>\nNow help me, who am alone and have no one but you,<br \/>\nO LORD, my God.\u201cAnd now, come to help me, an orphan.<br \/>\nPut in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion<br \/>\nand turn his heart to hatred for our enemy,<br \/>\nso that he and those who are in league with him may perish.<br \/>\nSave us from the hand of our enemies;<br \/>\nturn our mourning into gladness<br \/>\nand our sorrows into wholeness.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4>Responsorial Psalm<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/138:1\">PS 138:1-2AB, 2CDE-3, 7C8<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>R. (3a)\u00a0Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.<br \/>\nI will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,<br \/>\nfor you have heard the words of my mouth;<br \/>\nin the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;<br \/>\nI will worship at your holy temple<br \/>\nand give thanks to your name.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.<br \/>\nBecause of your kindness and your truth;<br \/>\nfor you have made great above all things<br \/>\nyour name and your promise.<br \/>\nWhen I called, you answered me;<br \/>\nyou built up strength within me.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.<br \/>\nYour right hand saves me.<br \/>\nThe LORD will complete what he has done for me;<br \/>\nyour kindness, O LORD, endures forever;<br \/>\nforsake not the work of your hands.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4>Gospel<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/7:7\">MT 7:7-12<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>Jesus said to his disciples:<br \/>\n\u201cAsk and it will be given to you;<br \/>\nseek and you will find;<br \/>\nknock and the door will be opened to you.<br \/>\nFor everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;<br \/>\nand to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.<br \/>\nWhich one of you would hand his son a stone<br \/>\nwhen he asked for a loaf of bread,<br \/>\nor a snake when he asked for a fish?<br \/>\nIf you then, who are wicked,<br \/>\nknow how to give good gifts to your children,<br \/>\nhow much more will your heavenly Father give good things<br \/>\nto those who ask him.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cDo to others whatever you would have them do to you.<br \/>\nThis is the law and the prophets.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11000\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-11000\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays.jpg?resize=225%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"esther-fasts-and-prays\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays.jpg?resize=300%2C400&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays.jpg?w=450&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan Thursday of the First Week of Lent February 26, 2015 Esther 14:12.14-16.23-25, Ps 138, Mt 7:7-12 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Today in the Gospel Jesus continues [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9148,1063,3,4],"tags":[5008,5010,1801,5007,5005,314,1700,5013,5012,5009,5006,7924,8871],"class_list":["post-10998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-2016-year-ii","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-year-ii","tag-ahasuerus","tag-bothering-god-in-prayer","tag-election","tag-esther","tag-esther-1412-14-16-23-25","tag-mt-77-12","tag-pope-francis","tag-praying-as-if-our-life-depended-on-it","tag-praying-to-a-loving-father","tag-praying-with-courage","tag-ps-138","tag-simple-prayer","tag-year-of-mercy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Christian Way to Pray, First Thursday of Lent, February 18, 2016 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-christian-way-to-pray-first-thursday-of-lent-february-18-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Christian Way to Pray, First Thursday of Lent, February 18, 2016 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. Roger J. Landry Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan Thursday of the First Week of Lent February 26, 2015 Esther 14:12.14-16.23-25, Ps 138, Mt 7:7-12 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Today in the Gospel Jesus continues [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-christian-way-to-pray-first-thursday-of-lent-february-18-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-18T14:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays-225x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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Landry Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan Thursday of the First Week of Lent February 26, 2015 Esther 14:12.14-16.23-25, Ps 138, Mt 7:7-12 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Today in the Gospel Jesus continues [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-christian-way-to-pray-first-thursday-of-lent-february-18-2016\/","og_site_name":"Catholic Preaching","article_published_time":"2016-02-18T14:22:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/esther-fasts-and-prays-225x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Fr. Roger Landry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. 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